Eowyn and the fall of the Ents

 I meant to put this post up a few weeks back but it slipped my mind and I only remembered after our recent visit to our permission.

Storm Eowyn did some serious damage to the forest and brought down quite a number of trees, the scary thing was, 3 fell right over one of my favourite camping spots. I had often heard the trees knock against each other in high winds and it was always in the back of my mind that one could come down on me, I'm very glad I wasn't there when the storm hit...

And the donimo effect, this beech toppled taking an oak and a sycamore with it, not all trees get hung up when they fall, I will have to be incredibly careful when camping there again, the trees are all so shallow rooted there's no telling when they'll drop. Be safe out there folks!

The beauty of new life

 It's awe inspiring to see all of creation start to come to life at this time of year, the colours and scents of the plants are wonderful and they fill my heart with the wonder of creation. How anyone can look at nature and say it is all a random process that happened by chance is totally beyond me, they must be willfully suppressing the truth. Here are a few pics I took while we were out today, I hope you too can see the Handiwork of God in them..

Willow

Hazel

Blackthorn

Salmonberry 

Wild Garlic

Colossians 3 v10

Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your creator and become like him.

                             

From Billhook to Big knife.

 In the temperate environment I live in an axe is of less value than a large knife. I don't often have a need to cut down a tree but I regularly need to cut back on brambles, bracken, salmonberry canes, scrub willow, gorse bushes and the like. This cannot be done with an axe, so a big knife [the Sami call it a Leuku] is a much more effective tool to have around.

I did recently buy a couple of cheap billhooks and thought they'd be good for modifying into Big knives.

As you can see they are rather rough and ready but for a tool that will be heavily used in the woods I don't need anything expensive, just effective.

The handle was in particularly bad shape and needed quite a bit of work. So out came the angler grinder, a series of files, sandpaper and linseed oil and after a little bit of profiling I ended up with these

The steel is decent and the edge easily maintained with a chainsaw file, they work well on thick brush and can take limbs and saplings up to about 4 inches down with ease. So for those who often ask what the best tool is for our native environment any big knife similar to those above will be your best bet.

The hands that made it all.

 The purpose of Buzzard Bushcraft is to show the wonder and majesty of God through his creation, so imagine my pleasure when we connected with an incredible blues rock composer who agreed to create a song for us based on the Handiwork of God that can be seen in nature. Russell asked us to send him some of our favourite bible verses regarding the outdoors and creation and he would create a song using them for inspiration..less than a week later he came up with "The hands that made it all" this will now be our official Buzzard anthem.. Thank you so much Russell and as you often say, "its all for the glory of God"

All credits and copyrights are owned by Russell w Delbridge.

Oyster mushroons

 It was certain that one day I was going to have to eat my own words regarding mushrooms, as you all know I normally think they are seriously over rated, slimy and taste like feet. Well out this weekend and we found some oyster mushrooms, I've found them before but never eaten them so this time, just for sake of it I took a few and brought them home

Just fresh off the stump and in perfect condition

Coarsely chopped 

And in a pan with what's left of last year's wild garlic butter (remind me to make twice the amount this year!)

About 5 minutes of cooking and they'd absorbed most of the butter, and the taste.. drum roll please.. was actually lovely, texture was firm and steak like, garlicy, sweet and delicious..couldn't believe it, after all these years I've found a mushroom I actually really like..

Never to old to find out something new.

Fire and Ice

 I absolutely love fire, there is something warming, comforting and encouraging about it, I could stare into the flames all day and not get bored, 

At the same time I love Ice, and there's nothing I love more than being in the woods overnight as it freezes, waking up in the morning with a cold nose, my breath visible in the air and ice all over the tent

Nature gives us beauty at both ends of the spectrum and which ever way you lean towards, hot or cold, there is always an appreciation for the opposite end that keeps all of creation in balance.

PS, whomever has kept the Buzzard base camp tidy recently has done a grand job, it really is appreciated. Thankyou.